The Uchiha Mindset
by Ryoko-nee
Summary: It's only a lie if you say it is. Otherwise, it's up for interpretation.


Title: Lies  
Series: Naruto  
Disclaimer: All belongs to Kishimoto except this idea. 

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Itachi hates people.

Though it is hard to detect (even if people were to look back with 20/20 hindsight) as to when he started hating people. Some think that his parents were irresponsible, that they should have seen a change in their son's habits and consequently changed his ways. Others believe that Hokage should have known (through Itachi's ANBU comrades) about Itachi's blood lust and kept him under constant surveillance. There are even those now who are wary of Uchiha Sasuke but they are few in numbers so their beliefs are dismissed, waived.

One may blame the parents which is easy enough to do. It has its place in this discussion. As for the ANBU comrades, who can truly place all the guilt upon them? Within ANBU, all members wear masks, hiding their faces which in turn hide their identities. They can only communicate by reading each other's eyes since even after one memorizes which mask belongs to whom, they can easily be switched.

"And?" would say some of the villagers, "If they communicate by looking through each others' eyes, shouldn't at least one of the shinobi have noticed the blood lust present? For as it is said, "The eyes are the windows into the soul." His parents should also have noticed because surely he couldn't have only felt this attraction outside Konoha's walls."

Even if ANBU soldiers communicate through eye contact, who in their right mind would begin speaking with a man that's about to kill another human being? Besides, you'd be busy with your own fights rather than trying to keep eye contact with a (presumed good and loyal) teammate. As for speaking with each other during meal times and such, hiding verbally about one's want for blood is easy enough and simply not speaking is easier to do. As for the parents, they seemed powerless against their eldest son. Goodness sakes, they too were killed by his hands. In their cases, they truly had created a monster. Pushing him, nagging him, forcing upon him the duties of a shinobi and the successor to a large clan during his younger years.

However, through Itachi's mind, he had a reason for killing his clan. He disguised it from his younger brother the day the little one came back late from shuriken practice. It was something he wanted to hide from his little brother and he intended to keep it hidden by covering it up as a fight to prove his strength.

The basis for the massacre of the Uchiha Clan was a part of human nature, lying.

Ever since he was born, both his parents lied to him on a regular basis. As a child, his mother would constantly tell him that she loved him the most, that she'd make sure no harm ever came to him, the lies of a mother. Itachi found out early on that harm would come to him whether his mother was near or not. He'd been bruised and cut from shurikens and kunais in class whereas at home, his father would beat him as his form of reprimanding his son. Both hurt and his mother could never fully heal him.

Then there was his father. He didn't speak much to him and the only words out of his mouth were those of how glorious the clan was, how he (Itachi) would grow to become well-known throughout the village (which did happen, though most likely not the way his father had planned. This was the sole truth Itachi ever received from his father, however) and when Itachi was younger, how he would grow up with a best friend. Together he and his best friend would become strong by relying, depending, and working with each other. This was not the case for Itachi.

Shisui, some thought him to be Itachi's best friend though only for a short time before his death in the river, was also a liar. He was another Fugaku-like-follower, spouting nonsense from his mouth every moment of the day. Sadly, it seemed like he truly believed everything he said. It wasn't until the fateful day that he said something that piqued Itachi's interest.

"We Uchihas are so great, I bet nothing could kill us!"

"Then what of our ancestors? Those that have passed away?"

"Ah heck Itachi, fine, old age kills us. But other than that, we are invincible!"

Then and there, Itachi took in only one thing that Shisui said: only old age kills Uchihas since Uchihas are practically immortal.

He decided to test out the idea.

Without a word, his hand shot out and latched around Shisui's neck. Shisui struggled, pulling out kunais and shurikens (which cut Itachi a few times thereby proving once again that his mother was a liar) to try to fend for himself. Itachi let go when Shisui managed to embed a kunai into his forearm. Both stepped away from each other for a moment, one gazing at the kunai while the other struggled for air and prepared himself for a battle, slowly recovering from the shock of having a friend strangle him (single-handedly even).

Finding that the kunai restricted his arm's movements, Itachi drew it out and calmly set about wrapping it up in bandages. Shisui didn't move but kept himself prepared for anything. He didn't want to alert the Uchiha Police force yet since he didn't want to see his friend ending up in a prison.

As soon as he was finished, Itachi looked to his left, watching the river's water flow by smoothly, unendingly, never letting anything stop it except the jagged rocks protruding upwards in the middle area. 'It's like the water is Shisui's thoughts, they never stop to slow down and consider until it hits something standing in its way.' His eyes darkened, 'Perhaps I am those rocks trying to disprove his ridiculous ideas.' He looked back at his supposed friend who was still in a defensive stance eyeing him warily.

Fighting ensued and when Shisui knew he was losing, began using everything he had, kunais, shurikens, jutsus, teeth, head-bashing, everything, but in the end he was brought under water. The last thing he heard before darkness consumed him was Itachi's voice. He was talking to him as if it were an ordinary conversation.

"I guess not all Uchihas are invincible. But Shisui, I assure you, I will be invincible and all the other Uchihas who are not shall follow your path. Do not worry, I'm sure many family members will be meeting you soon." Shisui looked up while inhaling water into his lungs and he saw nothing but red.

Now killing those unworthy of Uchiha name (according to Shisui's proclamation) was one of the reasons for the Uchiha massacre. The other, especially to Itachi's mother and father, was because they were liars. When Sasuke was born, another lie of his mother's was exposed. She didn't love him most anymore.

As Sasuke grew up, Itachi spoke with him much more when he was younger. He liked his little brother since he'd always tell 'oniisan' the truth, how his day was, his feelings, things of importance to a young child. It angered Itachi beyond belief when he heard his mother coo into his little brother's ear the same vile and venomous fabricated truths he heard as a child (which she had stopped repeating since he became a genin) one night. As both brothers grew, Itachi began speaking less and less to Sasuke since now his brother's mind was poisoned with all the deceptions of the Uchiha clan and it became increasingly difficult to speak with him without hearing all the jibberish on the side.

So one day, Itachi took it upon himself to do as a brother should. Lead his brother onto the right path, not let him sit down and absorb all the falsities of life and lean on others (for how would he then survive on his own while on a solo mission?). Itachi wanted Sasuke to live on without hearing and believing in fairytales and knowing distorted facts.

The only solution was to kill his family and his clan.

One thing Itachi found out while travelling, however, was that all humans lie. When this realization hit him, he knew from then on that he hated people. But was it then that he hated people or was it from the beginning that his antipathy was established? Only by talking with him would we ever really know. One interesting fact to say before leaving is that when Itachi told Sasuke that he killed the clan because he wanted to test his strength, does that not count as a lie?

From Itachi, he'd probably say, "It wasn't a lie. It was a truth disguised to protect him."

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A/N: Man, that ending was weaaaak!! I don't hate it but I'm not sure of how to change it either... Bah... oh well! This... thing... idea? came to me randomly when I was thinking about Itachi and so... voila :D


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